Soccer Sadness

The Italians were in a very bad mood today. Their beloved football team lost its quarterfinal match in the European Cup to Spain last night. The game didn’t end until nearly 1 a.m., and the televisions were blaring and the Italians were shouting at their televisions until the very end.

When we went across the street this morning to get our bombolone and espresso, we asked our new friend, the baker, about the game. He expressed his dismay in Italian, using hand gestures in the way that only Italians can. According to his sign language, Spain’s team was a bunch of cheaters, the refs were bribed, and they can all go…., well, you know the rest.

The drivers were more aggressive (if that’s possible), there was more honking, and you could hear men arguing in their cars as they drove to work. All in all, they were not a happy country today. Ah well. Thank goodness for espresso, vino rosso, and Mama’s cooking. They’ll be fine by tonight.

Bill and I knocked a couple of more things off our want-to-see list today. We visited the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. The basilica is the one of the largest in Rome, second in size only to St. Peter’s. One of the most significant differences between St. Paul's and St. Peter's is the fact that St. Peter's has so much art and so many side chapels. St. Paul's doesn't have as much, so it just looks massive. The original church was built over St. Paul’s tomb by the Emperor Constantine I. The original church was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in the 1800s, but we saw the original tomb and also the chains that held St. Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome.

The church is particularly interesting because it has a mosaic of each of the popes lining the ceiling all around the massive structure, from St. Peter to Benedict XVI. The dome of the church was very beautiful, also mosaics. The mosaics are very beautiful.

After visiting the church, we took a bus out the old Appian Way to visit the catacombs. We took a tour of the Catacombes of San Calisto. The catacombes, we learned, are ancient Christian underground burial sites from the second through the fifth century. In the 500s, the Goths, Visigoths, and other bad folks who plundered Rome also sacked these Christian burial grounds. There apparently wasn’t much of value for them to plunder, but they desecrated the tombs anyway. In the 1800s archeologists rediscovered the catacombes and began studying the whole area, and after World War II the catacombes were opened for tours. We enjoyed the tour very much, and particularly relished the cool air underground.

We came home and did some hand wash, and subsequently developed a new problem. Some of our wash (undergarments, naturally) fell into the patio area directly below us. We now have to figure out how to explain to people we have never seen and who likely speak no English that we have dropped undies in their back yard. We never have a dull moment.

We went to dinner again at our favorite little place across the street (we are becoming regulars) and had a wonderful meal once again. But I just have to tell you one Italian story: about the time we were getting ready to leave (around 9:30), an empty tour bus pulled up, stopped, the driver put on the flashers, got out, came into the restaurant and ordered dinner. Now, mind you, we are on a busy four-lane city street and the bus was blocking one full lane. As David Troy would say, Italian logic.